Movie Theaters Re-Opening
The movie theatre chains in Canada will be re-opening some of their locations with stipulations in regards to the mandatory wearing of masks and fewer seats, concessions and bathroom stalls being made available to facilitate social distancing.
Landmark Theatres has already opened some locations in the provinces of Alberta and will open more shortly in British Columbia and Saskatchewan whilst Cineplex and Guzzo Cinemas are planning on opening locations in July, some as of July 3rd.
The Imagine Cinemas chain in Ontario and British Columbia remains closed but Ciné Stars have opened their theatres in the province of Quebec.
Retail Slowly Adapting
As you can see by my lack of posts the industry is pretty much at a standstill, a few retailers choosing to re-open with strict measures against COVID-19.
Sunrise Records has decided to open a few of its stores, with reduced hours, payments limited to credit card/debit and limited staff, with a maximum occupancy rate of 10 people including staff. And in Quebec, Archambeault stores have also opened with reduced hours, reduced staff and is also asking people to use credit and debit for their purchases, asking their customers to handle merchandise as little as possible.
These rules, along with the use of masks and physical distancing, are likely going to be adopted by the independent chains and stores through-out Canada, adapting to municipal and provincial guidelines as we progress into the summer. But if you can order it online and/or pick it up at the store, I’d advise you to do that to save yourself some time.
Some The Source electronic store locations are open but like Best Buy Canada and The Brick, they also prefer their customers to shop online and pick up their pre-purchased items in-store or curbside. And in regards to book stores, Chapters/Indigo stores have opened but are also following the above-mentioned guidelines, offering contactless curbside purchasing to their customers.
Amazon.ca has also relaxed its essential goods shipping so more entertainment products have been made available without the associated delays. And if you’re looking for home entertainment accessories like cables or mounts Prime Cable and Newegg Canada are taking online orders with slight delays, the latter also offering electronics and components.
By the way, you can order disposable masks from Living.ca or have reusable, machine washable antibacterial masks delivered to you if you reside within 10 kilometres of a Kardish Health Food store, the latter also offering curbside purchasing.
Enjoy the warmer days. And stay safe.
A Note For Roku Users
Due to a global root certificate expiring, select streaming channels may stop working 3:48 AM PT on 5/30/20. We've released a software update for current-generation players. We apologize for the inconvenience.https://t.co/yTCVgowk4p
— Roku (@Roku) May 30, 2020
Canadian ’80s Rock Classics Re-Issued
Platinum Blonde’s quadruple platinum certified “Alien Shores” album and subsequent platinum certified release, “Contact“, will be re-released on vinyl on August 14th, 2020.
“Alien Shores” was one of my very favourite Canadian rock albums from the ’80s, along with “Standing In The Dark“, the band’s double platinum debut LP (which was re-issued in mid-2018).
This Eddy Offord and Mark Holmes production features the platinum-selling single “Crying Over You” and other singles “Situation Critical”, “Somebody Somewhere” and “Hungry Eyes”, whose music videos are available on the band’s Official Youtube Channel.
Another prominent album of the period, Luba’s “Secrets and Sins“, has also just been issued on iTunes and Google Play.
Although this 1984 Daniel Lanois production featured hits “Let It Go”, “Everytime I See Your Picture”, “Storm Before Calm” and the title track, it only had a limited release on compact disc.
Her label at the time preferred releasing a now out of print best-of compilation entitled “Over 60 Minutes With” in 1987, which was excellent. But now fans will be able to download this album, her first full-length release.
Review: Disney Movie Club
Disclosure – This review is not sponsored by Disney and the links are not affiliated to Disney
So, you’re interested in the Disney Movie Club and would like to know if it’s worth it; Is it a great deal or are the alternatives better, including Disney Plus?
I’ve been a member for years and have retained my VIP membership for some time to take advantage of the occasional sale and free shipping offer. And I’d say if you’re upgrading your collection from VHS or DVD that it’s a great deal. But if you’re just casually looking to purchase Star Wars, Marvel or Disney titles that the alternatives might be better for you in the long run.
So, let’s start off with the agreement Canadians make with the company.
Currently, Canadians get four movies for $1 in their first shipment so you’ve got to already have four titles in mind to take advantage of the offer. And to have those four movies at that price, you’re committed to purchasing five additional movies at regular price over the next two years, plus shipping and handling on those movies.
Regular price on blu-rays starts at $19.95 but newer releases are generally $31.95. And the shipping and handling rates per shipment are $4.95 (+tax) for the first selection and $2.95 (+tax) for each subsequent selection so you would be paying approximately $11.10 to $17.75 (+s&h and tax) per blu-ray if you took advantage of the current offer and fulfilled your agreement with the club.
New 4k selections are $36.95 (+s&h and tax) at the club so you might be paying up to an average of approximately $20.53 (+s&h and tax) per 4k selection, obtaining a total of 9 selections by your fulfillment.
A great deal if you’re upgrading. But you should note that there are better offers out there for this club.
Occasionally they offer 5 movie selections for $1 and further discount your first and second purchases with the initial order, extending the time one needs to purchase regularly priced selections from two to three years.
This offer is found in print, in magazine inserts and adverts, and occasionally in mailings and via banners at certain websites (like disney.go.com) and I recommend you try to find one of these for their promo codes because these reduce the average price of individual selections.
I rejoined after receiving an offer by mail because I was a former member, and also took advantage of free shipping offers during membership to save more. But you should note that there are issues that one can encounter during membership.
First of all, there are delays when it comes to new releases.
Yes, you can pre-order some of them but you could wait for a month or two after its release on Amazon or on streaming to get it, so this club isn’t for you if you like to rush out and but films as soon as they’re released.
Second, you’ve got to respond to their mailings or you will have selections sent to you automatically and have these shipments charged to your credit card, by default.
They send a minimum of 13 catalogues out to their members a year and you’ve got to respond to them as soon as possible, via their web site or toll-free number. And unfortunately, they no longer have a negative response program so if you forget, you get to pay the shipping to send it back.
Shipping it back can get quite costly if you don’t have bubble envelopes and can take advantage of the low costs associated with letter mail. And if you forget often you lose most of the savings you have with membership.
I personally would like the negative response program to be offered to those who have fulfilled their requirements and are VIP members. But they don’t appear to be interested in that suggestion.
Third, when selections are sent to you they don’t come in bubble wrapped envelopes but tight cardboard packages that can be damaged.
The vast majority of the blu-rays I’ve received were fine but I did get a damaged case or two and have been forced to order multiple cases from Amazon to replace them.
That is cheaper than sending the case back to Disney, who should consider selling replacements themselves.
I’d prefer paying them instead if a five-pack was under $10, shipping and handling included (I think I’ll email this suggestion over as soon as I’m finished writing this entry). But gone are the days where one can just pick up blank cases from one’s local video or department store, many of the later having stopped selling blu-ray and blu-ray accessories.
Some dollar stores have them, as do some smaller department stores (like Giant Tiger, Hart, Rossy). But these are usually of cheap quality.
That said, there are also advantages to membership, namely the exclusive releases and memorabilia.
They offer Disney, Marvel and Star Wars boxed sets with extras and other branded official merchandise. And some of them count as two purchases towards your membership agreement, which reduces the aforementioned average per selection prices further.
Collectors would probably love those but casual watchers with dependable high-speed internet access would probably prefer subscribing to Disney+ at $8.99 per month, which may be more convenient to some.
Many of the Disney Movie Club’s releases include digital codes so most of my collection is already online and available for streaming. But if I was upgrading from DVD today, I’d probably go with Disney+, whose catalogue is still expanding.
I’m now waiting for more of Disney’s classic cartoons to be added before subscribing, having received an email from the Disney Movie Club stating that there are no current plans to add the Walt Disney Treasures collections to their catalogue (from which I collected the Donald Duck collections but wanted the Goofy and Pluto sets).
Overall, I have very few complaints about the Disney Movie Club, whose service has been pretty consistent. But it is a two or three-year commitment that you should try to fulfill as quickly as possible, which is made easier with pre-planning.
Canada Post Says To Expect Delays
Despite our efforts to serve you during this time, you may experience delivery delays. More parcels combined with more stringent safety measures mean it's taking longer to process. Thank you for your patience & understanding as we put safety first. https://t.co/kqVfjcmba0 pic.twitter.com/D0gd5UCqbu
— Canada Post (@canadapostcorp) April 24, 2020